Re: Problems with germinating Broccoli...

[Agent Friday]

"Mike Stevenson" wrote in news:VoKNa.10137$ [e-mail]:

Well I'm guessing this is related to heat. The temperatures inside the > house during the day are in the mid 80s(F) (well in the un-air > conditioned parts of the house.) My broccoli seeds still have not > sprouted. I dug a few out of one of the peat pots and they have simply > turned brown, they had not even busted open. I'm concerned my hopes > for a Fall crop of broccoli may be dashed. I think I am going to try > moving the tray they are in into the bedroom, which is air conditioned > down to around 70F.

From my searching on the web, heat has been my best guess as well. One site mentioned that the plants should fully mature before hot weather arrives, so I'm guessing that the seeds may have the same attitude about heat.

My one surviving plant is in the ground and growing nicely. I don't expect to eat it necessarily, but I'm just letting it grow for the fun of it. Maybe I can get some seeds from it.

Have a good one,

--Steve

[Mike Stevenson]

Ok I've moved the container into the air conditioned room. Hopefully this will change the progress of these poor things. I've yet to have a single sprout. It's been like 3 weeks since I started them. Should I try new seeds?

[Agent Friday]

Back in early May I tried starting some pepper seeds, which said 10-20 days for germination. I often left the starter tray out on my front porch, even at night. A month later, plenty of tomato plants, but no peppers. So I decided to start over with new seeds--But I kept watering the first batch, just in case...

I had read somewhere that peppers needed warm soil to sprout, so from then on I made sure that they were inside at night, and I put them in the sun during the day. Most of the seeds, even from the original planting, ended up sprouting!

So anyway, I guess *I* would tend to play it safe and start with some new seeds, in case the original ones are shot. But they might just be patiently waiting for the right conditions.

Good Luck!

--Steve

"Mike Stevenson" wrote in news:BLxPa.11363$ [e-mail]:

[V_coerulea]

I've never had a problem germinating broccoli in warm conditions. If I did, I wouldn't get any at all. After germination, they prefer cooler growing conditions. I'd say your seed is old or poor quality. Get some new seed and I'll bet they sprout in 10 days or less. We sow seed in the fall for a winter crop that goes on into Jan-Feb.with side shoots, and we plant another crop to bear in April. In winter we supply extra heat to germinate the seeds (10 days), then grow them cooler at the 1 leaf stage before they fall over.

[Mike Stevenson]

Well they've had warm and dark, warm and bright, cool and dark, and cool and bright conditions and still no sprouts. I SOPPOSE the seeds could be poor or old, but I would like to believe Burpee's would sell better quality seed than that. Everything else I got from them has done very well.

As far as sowing in the Fall for a winter crop...what zone are you in? Is this feasible in zone 6b? I've been in this particular area for about 3 winters now. I am a native of zone 7, and I am not sure it could over winter there (then again perhaps I'm not giving that delicious broccoli enough credit). The temps here in this area (WV Panhandle Zone 6B) get below freezing at least some part of the winter, and of course last year we had one of the coldest and snowest winters this area has ever seen. Can broccoli survive this?

On a side note my poor poor tomatoes have had the crap beat out of them by a nasty storm that moved through the area yesterday. It all but killed one of my Sweet Treat 100s (5+ FT tall cherries). I mourn the loss of the poor thing. I managed to survive the ravages of hungry rabbits while it was still a young plant, and is (was) just as hardy as the rest of the tomatoes until this...